Not all countries are equal when it comes to making and selling apps on the Play Store. Some don't even support developer registration, others let developers register but only let them distribute free apps. That was the case of devs in Ecuador until now: the ability to register as a merchant is available to them so they can finally sell paid apps and IAPs on the Play Store.

The change showed up in the Play Console's support documents so we don't know if it's already live or if it's going out to be soon.

Late last week, we got confirmation that dark mode would be available in an upcoming Android release... and then it was revealed that wasn't actually true. But what if Chrome OS beats Android to the punch? The folks over at Chrome Unboxed have spotted a "dark mode" (well, a dark system tray) that can be enabled in the Developer and Canary Chrome OS channels.

If you're not familiar with Android Things OS, it's a lightweight version of Android designed to run on Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The first Developer Preview was released last year, and there have been a few updates since then. Now Google has released the first preview of Android Things Console, which makes managing a fleet of Android Things devices significantly easier.

The new phonebook Google I/O app is here! Just like I/O events past, the latest developer conference has its own app. If you still had I/O 2016 installed on your device, or if you pulled it down in anticipation, you'll find an update waiting for you. Everyone else that might be attending should go download this latest hotness now.

More of this year's schedule for Google's I/O developer conference is finally up. At least, more than the last time we talked about it. Not all of the events are on it, as some would likely give away announcements made during the keynote at I/O by their presence on the calendar, but it looks like most of the talks should be there now. If you are planning on attending, as some of us are, then you might want to start figuring out how best to divide up your time.

Sony has added yet another handset to its Open Device Program. This time it's the Xperia XZs. With older brothers, the Xperia XZ and the X Performance, already on the list, it was only a matter of time before the newer flagship made its way to the program. Sony's support for the open source community is commendable, and this is more great news for developers hoping to play with custom builds of Nougat on their Xperia devices.

It's been a big day from the mystical Google land. In addition to all of the Wear stuff, the team behind Android Things has released the second Developer Preview for supported Internet-of-Things platforms. It brings some new features and a few bug fixes, as well as support for the Intel Joule.

Paid apps are quite obviously a huge part of the Android ecosystem and in particular, the Google Play Store. Today, Google's doing a bit of reorganising to ensure that, on the developer end, paid orders and settings are the easiest and simplest they can be.

'Order Management,' which developers will know handles the paid orders for subscriptions and in-app purchases, is moving from the Google Payments Centre to the Google Play Developer Console, where most things to do with the app's Play Store entry is managed from. The payments settings - bank accounts and other such things - is also going to be available in the Developer Console, in addition to being available on payments.google.com, as it always has been.

Google Calendar covers most of the basics for synced calendar users, but anyone who wants something more robust needs to go on a bit of a hunt. Titanium Track, the indie developer team behind the power user favorite Titanium Backup, is on the job. Their latest project is EvGenie, an advanced calendar designed for seamless backup across multiple devices and sharing with family members or coworkers. It's currently on the Play Store in an open preview. It's free to download.